Barker Ranch 10-12-1969 Arrests

 

Getty Images

Unlike the information on the October 10th arrests there is no police report. The only documents I could find were the Arrest and Property Records. There is also a document that details the Complaints filed against those from both days of arrests included at the end of the pdf.

Though Bruce Davis was also arrested on the 12th there is no Arrest and Property Record for him. Not all of those arrested were charged with a crime, some were released without charges. 

Law enforcement went back to Barker Ranch in the following days to make sure that they arrested everyone connected to the "hippie car theft ring". They went so far as to hire a helicopter to fly over the area. No other arrests were made.

Some of the documents are difficult to read.  

Those arrested, in the order that they appear in the pdf-

Benson, Charles T/N Charles Manson

Hamic, David Lee T/N William VanSickle but best known as Bill Vance

Brown, Kenneth Richard 

Jesus, Christopher T/N John Philip Haught

Bailey, Lawrence Charles T/N Larry Giddings

Andrews, Sherry T/N Colleen Sinclair

Beth, Tracy T/N Claudia Leigh Smith

Bartell, Sue Phillis T/N Susan Phyllis Bartell

Jardin, Patti Sue T/N Catherine Gillies

Bluestein, Dianne Elizabeth T/N Dianne Lake

Tex's Attic

 "All the next day, from our lookout posts in the hills, we watched the National Park rangers driving back and forth like ants over the desert roads, looking for us. After it got dark, Charlie and I drove all night by the light of the moon, surveying his desert kingdom. He was very quiet, wound up like a spring. When we got back to Myers Ranch early the next morning, he handed me a double-barreled shotgun that had been stolen from one of the girl's parents before we left Los Angeles.

"'Go up into the attic there,' he said to me, pointing to a place where the attic extended out over the porch of the ranch house with gaping holes between the boards. 'Go up there with this and wait. When those two rangers come -- kill them.' He drove off and I climbed into the hot, dusty attic to wait." *

-- Charles "Tex" Watson, Will You Die For Me?

"You know that little hideaway in Barker's place? Well, I used to sleep up in there, and all the mice used to have to crawl over me to get out to go to the water, right? And I'd have these buckskin pants on, and they would start chewing on my pants.

"So, one night, when it was Tex's turn -- because what we'd do is like keep a point up there, and anybody would come, we'd listen to what they was saying. So, it was Tex's turn to see if the cops was gonna come up, you dig, so he was gonna be stashed there, you know, to see what the cops was gonna say. And we'd always leave a coffee pot there, and we'd leave a couple pounds of coffee and all that kind of stuff....

"So [Tex] was over that night, and them rats came out and started chewing on them pants. He freaked out and he couldn't deal with it. He run home to his mother, man. He left the pants there, man, and the rats ate a fucking hole in the pants and shit. Fucking rats ate my pants up. That's cold, huh?"

-- Charles Manson, from a tape-recorded telephone conversation

* This is one of the instances in his book where Watson confuses the Barker and Myers Ranchs. The old Myers ranch house, which burned down in June of 1999, never had an attic space such as he describes. The photo is of the attic space at Barker Ranch (also since burned down). -- GS

Bill Nelson Taunts Sandra Good In The Barker Ranch Log Book

Hello my friends!

Sandra Good will screw up once too often and qualify for California's 3 Strikes Law. Then it will be good-bye "Blue" stay alone George.

Myers Ranch is burned out -- Where were you George & Sandra Good?

Spahn Ranch burned the last day of Barbara Hoyt's trial testimony, now Myers!

Bill Nelson

Author

www.mansonmurders.com

P. O. Box 1585

Costa Mesa, CA 92628

OK Blue -- Guts enough to keep this statement in this book?

6-30-99 Bill Nelson

There Could Be One Anywhere

Sandra Good, incognito, listens to a desert tour guide tell the true story of "the Manson Family" at Barker Ranch in 1992. 

A History of Barker Ranch

In 2005 the National Park Service completed a Cultural Landscapes Inventory on the Thomason/Barker Ranch (known better generally as just Barker Ranch) as part of a continuing effort of cataloging the cultural resources of the Death Valley area. The resulting 77-page report included chapters on the chronology and physical history of the ranch, geographic information, an analysis and evaluation of the ranch's integrity, and ended with a determination that the ranch should be preserved and maintained and that it was eligible for listing on the National Register.

Portions of the report of interest to readers of this blog have been reprinted below. 

The front page of the report

National Park Service Cultural Landscapes Inventory 2005

Thomason/Barker Ranch

Death Valley National Park

"The 1930s witnessed an unprecedented migration of people desiring to escape urban life in order to experience a simpler and less restrictive existence in the remote desert. Others moved to the desert at this time in order to escape the consequences of the Depression by trying to eke out a living on the land rather than face urban soup lines. Since the 1930s the California deserts have provided a sanctuary for those seeking to escape from mainstream society. People have often been attracted to the secluded and wild environment that the desert provided because it created a feeling of isolation and freedom among those who were avoiding the law, those who wished to live away from other people, or for those who simply did not want to conform to conventional society. The desert attracted people who held to the belief that it was one of the last American Frontiers -- offering the maximum amount of freedom from social order and legal constraints. People of this mindset have settled in or drifted in and out of the Goler Wash vicinity over the past 70 years.

"It was during this initial era of escape to the desert that the Thomason/Barker Ranch was first settled. In 1937, Bluch and Helen Thomason, a retired couple from Los Angeles, moved to Goler Wash after filing a claim with Inyo County for a five acre mill site. This was the land on which they subsequently built their retirement retreat. As required under the General Mining Act of 1872, the development and use of residences on Government Law Office (GLO) managed lands depended on the owners' ability to show proof of their active use of the land for mining activities. The Thomasons' primary reason for moving to Goler Wash was to retire in the desert, and they used the provisions of the Mining Act of 1872 as a means to this end. For the same reason, the Barkers, who acquired mining rights to the ranch in 1956, moved to the area because of their attraction to the desert and their desire to retire in a secluded environment. They also used their mining claims as a means to legally occupy the government-owned land. This was substantiated by the testimony of Emmett Harder, a local resident and prospector who knew the Barkers during the period they lived in Goler Wash. 

"The Thomasons and the Barkers were not the only families who used mining claims as the basis for developing recreational ranches in this area. Four other families maintained retreats in the Goler Wash area, and a similar number developed retreats in nearby Butte Valley in the 1930s and 1940s. Like the Thomason/Barker Ranch, these residences were located on GLO-administered lands and were also legally occupied due to the owners' association with small-scale mining.

"In 1968, the Barkers ceased living on their ranch, and by 1971 they had completely abandoned the site. Many of the other family retreats in the area had been abandoned by this time as well. The exception was the Myers Ranch, which had been successfully patented under the General Mining Act of 1872 a decade earlier. Today, the Myers property has been completely reconstructed following a devastating fire, and its physical structures retain no historic integrity. It is, however, the only residential complex in the area that remains a family-controlled retreat.

"The Thomason/Barker Ranch reverted to BLM [Bureau of Land Management] management in 1971. Since that time, tourists and outdoor enthusiasts have used the area as an overnight destination. Despite decades of benign neglect, most of the buildings and structures remain intact but are in poor condition. As such, the Thomason/Barker Ranch serves as the only remaining example of a primitive recreational ranch and retirement retreat in Death Valley National Park."

Above: the site plan of the Barker Ranch

Below: a chronological history of the ranch

Besides covering the entire history of the ranch the report also has a lengthy summary of the activities of Charles Manson and his associates during their time in the area:

Charles Manson Family (1968-1969)

"The fall of 1968, the peaceful history of Thomason/Barker Ranch was forever changed when Charles Manson obtained permission from Arlene Barker to indefinitely occupy the ranch with his "Family." During this era, many of those labeled by the media as hippies and others associated with the counter culture were seeking solace and escape from the pressures of modern society. For these individuals, the secluded environs of Death Valley, like other remote areas, represented an alluring sanctuary far removed from the repressive trappings of the urban "establishment." In the eyes of many long-time Death Valley residents accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of prospectors and desert rats, the Manson Family appeared on the surface no more unconventional than other newcomers who frequented the desert byways and canyons.

"Favorable descriptions of Goler Wash were provided to Manson by 17-year-old Cathy Gillies, a recently inducted Family member and grandchild of Barbara Myers. Agreeing that the location would likely meet their needs, the Manson Family began a phased move to Goler Wash. The first of many forays to Goler Wash consisted of seventeen adults and two babies, journeying from Los Angeles in a reconditioned school bus. They hiked the arduous last five miles from the mouth of the canyon to the Myers Ranch, their original destination. Their school bus would later be driven to the Thomason/Barker Ranch by way of the eastern route over Mengel Pass, an equally challenging and (for the bus at any rate) debilitating accomplishment. Manson eventually selected Thomason/ Barker Ranch rather than the Myers Ranch as the Family's base of operations. He went so far as to seek Arlene Barker's permission to stay at the ranch, deluding her that he was the composer/arranger for the Beach Boys musical group and only intended to stay there a short while with a few others. He later offered to buy the improvements from her, but his inability to demonstrate his financial wherewithal quickly brought an end to the negotiations.

"Charles "Tex" Watson, a member of the Manson Family currently serving a life-term in prison for the Tate-LaBianca murders, described his initial perception of Goler Wash and the Barker and Myers Ranches when the family first arrived in 1968:

"The wash, even by day…. was unbelievably rugged. It could take a good half a day to work your way up on foot, and even the toughest jeep would have a hard time against the boulders and narrow turns. The ranches themselves were about a quarter of a mile apart. Myers Ranch was in very bad condition, rundown and vandalized, but Thomason/Barker Ranch had a solid little stone ranch house and a swimming pool, even sheets on the beds. Later the the place would be described as derelict and dilapidated, but we had less exacting standards." (*)

"The secluded desert setting was conductive to Manson's ultimate objectives of inculcating his followers with his bizarre messianic prophecies of "Helter Skelter," the notion that an imminent race war between blacks and whites would consume the nation. According to his beliefs, he and the Family, as the chosen elite, would weather the violence in a subterranean world in the desert. They would consequently emerge and take control of the black population whom he considered inferior but who would be the initial victors of the race war.

"It was while they were living at Thomason/Barker Ranch that members of the Manson Family made a foray back to Los Angeles and murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four of her house guests. Then, in the same night, they entered another home and killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The Tate-LaBianca murders would cause mass fear and paranoia among Los Angeles residents who could not begin to predict when the next murder might occur or who the next victims would be. 

"In September 1969, about one month after the still unsolved Tate-LaBianca murders, members of the Manson Family were apprehended by a team of California Highway Patrol, Inyo County, and NPS law enforcement personnel at Thomason/Barker Ranch on suspicion of theft and arson, ending their year-long occupation of the ranch. It wasn't until the Manson Family was incarcerated that the magnitude and horror of their violent acts were fully revealed. 

"During the Manson Family occupation of the ranch, the entry roundabout area was expanded to the west to create more parking space for the bus and the dozens of other vehicles that the group had acquired. Because they were only at the ranch for a short period of time, the physical character of the site did not differ greatly from when the Barkers inhabited it. There are accounts that the Manson Family used the swimming pool as a giant makeshift washing machine and that they vandalized and left extensive debris throughout the site when they were incarcerated, but other than the expanded parking area, no permanent change to the character of the site occurred."

(* Watson is clearly confusing the two ranches here.  GS)

*      *      *

The main buildings of the Barker Ranch were destroyed by a fire accidentally ignited by a careless visitor in May of 2009. Not only did the ranch itself go up in smoke, but so did the tens of thousands of dollars that the National Park Service had spent restoring the ranch to a condition suitable to its historical significance. Today, all that remains of the structures are the bunkhouse, the chicken coop, and the stone walls of the main house and its outbuildings. 

Above: the ruins of the Barker Ranch house, April 25, 2015

Below: a National Park Service sign at Barker Ranch

Manson Tour 2015: Goler Wash

We were joined for the trip by a legend, Emmett C. Harder. He's the mining prospector that befriended the Family surrounding the times they frequented Barker Ranch. He is still quite energetic and full of spirit. When we took this pic we were at Newman Cabin in Goler Wash. As this particular story went, he - with the use of a shotgun -  and a mining partner had captured a desert thief who had been burglarizing Goler Wash mining camps. The capture took place here at Newman.

Newman Cabin

Emmett Harder is about 82 years old now but as sharp as a tack.  He drove the entire way up Goler Wash with ease, talking the whole time about various people who had mined or been an accessory to the process.  It seemed as if there wasn't anything he didn't know about the goings on in the area.

As we left the store at Ballarat the first bit of local color he told us about was Post Office Springs.  Post Office Springs was a tree in a wide spot in the road where people would leave messages for each other, having no other way to communicate.  Even today there is no way to contact one another within the area because there is no cell service, no landlines, no electricity. It is just the same way it was 45 years ago and the decades before.

On the way to the road up to Goler Wash we learned a little about the mining process, which we won't get into except to say there is an active mining operation going on now which was to our benefit because the roads had been graded for the truck traffic to the site where the leeching process was taking place. The road to the wash was in great shape with no washboard effect.

We finally began the assent to Barker. The wash "road" had recently been fixed up, none of the waterfalls which usually pose the biggest challenge to the trip up the wash were a problem. We never had to get out of the vehicles to move boulders.  Emmett's running commentary was priceless. We learned about the different rocks, the flora and the fauna of the area. All was interspersed by stories about the locals, aside from stories about The Family. What rugged people!

The road was narrow at times and there were many side roads, if we hadn't had a guide we could see where one could easily get lost. It's amazing that many of the Family members walked up and down the wash barefoot. And that it is so remote it's hard to imagine why they decided to hunker down there with very little in the way of resources for survival.

Very shortly after we first arrived at Barker Ranch, we heard the loud braying of a wild burro. He was standing on the opposite butte from the front of the ranch. There are two springs between Barker and Myers where they like to go for a drink. When he saw that there were about 14 humans there he attempted to intimidate the group. He stayed up there for hours.

Speaking of wild creatures, this Gopher Snake passed by near the front steps at the ranch. 

They are not dangerous to people.

Some shots of Barker Ranch

The main house

The infamous cabinet space in the bathroom where Manson 

spent his last moments as a free man in 1969.

John Aes-Nihil at the entrance to the ranch

 What's left of a mattress next to Sadie's Bunker

This is what's left of the dug-out bunker where Sadie was hiding when the raid began. 

It is of course filled in from earth that has run downhill over the decades from rain and wind.

Just slightly downhill from the bunker (maybe 8-10 feet) is the tin 

roofing that Sadie used to cover the bunker.

Here is myself and St. Circumstance on the butte opposite the ranch near the bunker. 

The burro was just uphill from us standing his ground.

From the spot by the bunker you can see Myers Ranch

George Stimson and Emmett Harder in front of the cabin beside the main house.

Above the main house, looking down at the pool

---------------------------------------

Meyers Ranch

---------------------------------------

Back down in Ballarat. From left to right are Deb, Emmett, Matt, Patty, George, 

Stoner, St. Circumstance (with Rocky Navak behind him) and John Aes-Nihil.

By the way, be sure to pronounce Ballarat correctly or George won't let you graduate.

Emmett Harder

When Charlie and the others were arrested for the Tate LaBianca murders Emmett Harder was one of the few people who went on record at length to say that he had a hard time believing that Charlie was involved.  By the time Harder wrote These Canyons Are Full Of Ghosts, with three chapters devoted to the Family, he had backed away from the views expressed in this article.

Here are Harder's first impressions upon learning of the charges against Charles Manson and his Family.

San Bernardino County Sun Sunday December 7, 1969

Friend Finds It Hard To Accept 'Killer' Tag

Different View Of Manson, 'Family'

by David L. Otis
Sun Telegraph Staff Writer

Charles Miller Manson, 35, called "God" and "Jesus" by his followers, incarcerated, accused......

Is he a bearded leader of a hippie "black magic cult" which savagely killed Sharon Tate and six others?  Or is Charles Manson the patriarch of a lost tribe of young people looking for their own society away from it all?

Emmett Harder, 37, s geologist and prospector since he was 9, knows Charles Manson.  He hired Manson and his "family" to work around his Death Valley mine near Barker Ranch, home of the "family" for several months.  He invited Charlie to dinner at his Devore home.

"I find it hard to accept the fact that Manson had anything to do with those brutal slayings," Harder said yesterday.  "I found Charlie to be an intelligent, hard-working person dedicated to taking care of the young people camping with him.  I never once heard Manson called anything but Charlie.  No one called him Jesus or God.  And he was clean shaven with medium length hair, too."

Harder said he remembered only first names (with the exception of Manson) of those in the group.  But he said he recognized the faces of the four already in custody for the Tate murders.

"There were a couple of Chuck's (Charles Watson) and a T.J. and a girl who appeared to be a bit retarded or at least abnormally naïve (Susan Atkins)."

Harder admits it has been a year since he last saw the man now accused of using "hypnotic power" to order the ritualistic slayings of seven persons in Los Angeles last summer.

But his description of Manson and his followers is in direct and striking contrast to reports circulated by news media about the hippie band.

Harder said he first met Manson in June 1968 at his tungsten mine seven miles from the Barker Ranch.  He said Manson and five or six young men walked into the camp to ask for jobs. 

"They were very interested in prospecting for profit.  They asked me if they could help.  I gave them a burro and a week.  When I visited the Barker Ranch at that time, I found they had collected over 1,000 pounds of ore for me."

Harder said he developed a respect for the young band "because I know what physical effort is and those young people were not afraid of physical effort."

Harder said Manson asked him to speak to the group on prospecting.  He said he took the young men on several field trips to acquaint them with rocks and formations.

The prospector voiced concerns over newspaper stories and pictures which gave the impression the group lived in squalor.  "The Barker Ranch was never neater than when Charlie was there.  He was a father-figure, organizing, directing, assigning duties.  I think a lot of the mess shown in the photographs was a result of the raid- or- perhaps it was made by another group.  The ranch was always open to anyone who wanted to use it."

Harder described the "family" as young people who appeared lost and hurt, as if society had slapped them in the face and turned them out alone.

"They didn't feel that they were lost.  They said they were trying to hide from society, trying to run away from its problems...."

Harder told of one of the many times he visited them.  He said they were sitting around a fire, drinking coffee and remembered being impressed that they were familiar with passages from the bible.

"We were talking about how lucky we all were.... sitting in the desert darkness alone but together.  Out there we felt closer to God and country, Charlie said "That shows you how true the bible is."

Manson and his followers ran into a unique prejudice at Barker's Ranch which apparently followed them from their beginning in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco.  "It was the word 'hippie'," Harder explained.  "The prospectors most assumed hippies were bad people.  The local people were a bit afraid of Charlie and his group.  Charlie said he didn't like the stigma and moved out of the Haight-Ashbury because of it."

The last time Harder saw Manson a chilly night in November 1968 after the Harder's had spent a peaceful dinner with the suspected killer.

Manson and three of his followers had ridden to Harder's house in Devore for dinner before catching a ride into Los Angeles.  "He talked about his music a lot.  He said he has written some for the Beach Boys, a popular rock group, and an album was due for release."

Said Mrs. Ruth Harder: "I remember he played the guitar and sang.  The girl who was with them walked in the garden with me, discussing rocks and flowers.  She was pretty and clean.  They reminded me of the kids who used to visit the house when my daughter was going to school."

Commenting on the picture of Manson circulated by the press last week, Mrs. Harder said Manson looked "frightened, puzzled by it all.  He had a trapped look...."

Gerald Harder,15, held up a mounted gold record he said he received through Manson.  The album was awarded the Beach Boys by Capitol Records indicating a million-seller.  The record was "All Summer Long."

"I got it from a man who once loaned Charlie a four-wheeled drive vehicle."  Gerald said.  "Charlie gave the gold record as sort of a payment for the help he received."

Harder said he and his son have thought about going up to Independence where Manson is being held to talk to him.  "I'd like to find out what it's all about," Harder explained.  But we don't want to go up there with all the newsman.  We'd like to see him alone.  Maybe when he is moved to more permanent confinement, we'll see him and he can tell us what all this is about." 

The article goes on to describe the victims and speculates about the suspects and the charges.

A press photo of the gold record that Gerald Harder speaks of, which accompanied this article, was a post of its own HERE a while back.

Where's the Manson Bus?

Where is the blue Manson Bus that was photographed at Barker Ranch, today? Patty received permission this week to tell you the story that Paul Dostie told Matt, Liz and her in May, 2012.

The story goes like this:

Susan Atkins told an investigator that she left the Barker Ranch in October, 1969 to get baby Zezo. Two male bikers from Venice, CA accompanied her back to Barker. This story was corroborated by Linda Kasabian's lawyer because Linda picked up baby Tanya in LA at the same time. When Sadie and the bikers arrived at the Goler Wash, Manson and three male Family members asked her to continue up the wash on foot. Supposedly the bikers were "never heard from again."

Buster the wonder dog showed us where, specifically, the bus is supposed to be buried. Do you know the trash can south of Ballarat on Wingate Road that says "Barker Ranch, one mile?" Just beyond this, you come to the intersection of Wingate and Coyote Canyon Roads (the latter takes you all the way up the canyon to Barker Ranch). There's some dirt, rock and scrub brush moguls right there at a somewhat jumbled and undefined turnoff. The location of the well is described as "10 meters off the road."

In the past, there have been rumors that this well was a "mine shaft," but it is not. It goes straight down into the silt, not horizontal into solid rock. It would be a good source of water because the dry lakebed there which often fills in winter is most always wet just a few yards down. The thing is, if you don't maintain your well after a hard rain, the water, dirt and rocks from the wash will fill it in right quick. This is what happened with the well in question. Supposedly after the bikers were dumped there, nature did the rest. There's even greenery growing on top now, so you really cannot see a darned thing from the top.

 A friend of Sgt. Dostie's, "BG," told him that:

"around 1974, BG was visiting a friend ("TO"), who was the caretaker at the Barker Ranch. The caretaker decided to get rid of the Manson bus that was in the front yard because it was attracting too many tourists. The bus was cut up with a torch and they hauled the pieces down to the bottom of the Goler Wash in multiple trips on a flat bed truck.

At the bottom of the Goler Wash, there was an open pit well about 9 feet in diameter and 60 feet deep. There was a lot of junk and trash at the bottom of the well. They threw the pieces of the bus down the well and when they finished, it was 15 feet from the top. Subsequent flash flooding filled the well in and the location is indistinguishable from the surrounding desert...Investigative information indicates that there may be two or more victims at the bottom of the well."

Sgt. Dostie says that satellite tests could reveal a large amount of iron underground in the place that has been identified, but to date, nothing has happened because said tests are very expensive.

Now you know!

Q&A Back to the Barker raid ammo question

You all might recall one of our members "Matt W" asking a previous question (see below) about the ammo seized at the Barker ranch raid.  I was chatting with Matt W about it recently and he brought up an interesting question. Was it James Willett who stole the weapons/ammo for the Family?
Matt W also brought up a good point being we don't even know if James was ever stationed there.

Hi Liz, I've been reading your blog for a couple weeks, looking for specific information regarding a list of weapons that were seized during the Spahn and Barker ranch raids. Main reason was while I was stationed at Camp Pendleton (Ca) there was a report of  someone stealing grenades and other armaments. The only people having access to the armory would have been Marines (to my knowledge). Any help sure would be appreciated...

Back to the Barker Ranch

Posted on 15 February 2013 in The Sheet. 

Questions still surround Manson Family hangout

The haunting face of Charles Manson is a tough thing to shake from your memory, even if you"ve only seen it over a television screen. The thought that there may be murders he orchestrated back in his heyday that are unaccounted for is something even harder to digest.

In 2008, the Inyo County Sheriff"s Department and the National Park Service authorized a dig at the Barker Ranch, the hangout where the Manson Family reportedly went following the Tate-LaBianca murder spree of 1969.

The dig was authorized following the request of scientists and now-retired Mammoth Lake Police Sergeant Paul Dostie, whose dog, a black Labrador named Buster, is trained to search for human remains. Buster had alerted on several spots at Barker Ranch, leaving Dostie and others to believe there were human remains buried there. At the time of the dig in May 2008, the government agencies only authorized digging to depths of 3-4 feet. Nothing was found, but the questions on many people"s lips since that time has been, "Did they dig deep enough?" and "Wouldn't someone like Charlie Manson know how deep a body has to be buried?"

Fast forward to 2013.

Debra Tate, sister of the murdered Sharon Tate, has alerted the media about the existence of tapes recorded by attorney Bill Boyd back when members of the Manson Family were being rounded up and charged for the Tate-LaBianca murders. Boyd represented Manson Family member and convicted murdered Charles "Tex" Watson who confessed to the murder of Sharon Tate.

According to an interview with author Tom O'Neill, of which The Sheet has obtained a transcript, Boyd said, "But he [Watson] was — I was impressed — he was extremely candid and he told me about a bunch of other people Manson had killed …"

Boyd clearly stated, however, that Watson did not implicate himself whatsoever in these murders. They were murders that Manson had committed or orchestrated, but Watson was not involved.

Boyd died in 2009, but the tapes remain. There are reportedly 20 hours of tapes. Currently, however, the tapes are tied up in bankruptcy court in Texas. When Boyd passed away, his son was unable to keep the law firm afloat and the firm ended up in bankruptcy. The tapes, being property of the firm, are being held up in this process.

Debra Tate told The Sheet in an interview this week that she had told the Los Angeles District Attorney"s office of the tapes in the spring of 2012.

"The DA did elicit interest from detectives in the LAPD [Los Angeles Police Department] and they were trying to get the tapes from bankruptcy court," Debra said.

The LAPD subpoenaed the tapes and a bankruptcy judge in Texas declared that there was no reason not to give the tapes to the LAPD.

"They were going to get the tapes," Debra said. "And then a federal judge put an injunction on LAPD until he looked at the tapes and reviewed the legalities."

One of those legalities is attorney/client privilege. Plus, Watson is reportedly claiming a fifth amendment violation if the tapes are released.

"He"s saying he would be incriminated if the tapes were released," Dostie explained.

As for the attorney/client privilege claim, both Debra Tate and Dostie said Watson gave this privilege up years ago to sell a book about his escapades with the Manson Family.

"About 14 hours of the tapes were used in the book," Dostie said.

"You can"t release attorney/client privilege and then take it back, which is what Watson wants to do by invoking the fifth," Debra added.

Debra recently decided to release the knowledge of the tapes to the media because she was tired of waiting on the legal system.

"The LA City Attorney should have filed a suit against the federal court [after the federal judge stepped in], but they didn"t do anything for three months," she said. "Apparently they were looking for a bankruptcy attorney but they didn"t need one when the highest bankruptcy court in Texas had already deemed the release of the tapes OK."

Debra closely watches what is happening with the members of the Manson Family still sitting in prison and attends each member"s parole hearings. She feels the release of the tapes would be useful in the implication of those Family members who may not have been involved in her sister"s murder, but could have participated in other murders. The tapes would also be useful in keeping those behind bars right where they are.

One Manson Family member has been released from prison and a second may be on his way out as well.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was released in 2009. Today, the release of Bruce Davis, a Manson Family member, lies within Governor Jerry Brown"s hands after the State"s Board of Parole Hearings approved Davis"s release.

According to abclocal.go.com, "A judge sentenced Davis, now 70, to life in prison in 1972 for his role in the murders of two men. He was not involved in the infamous Sharon Tate murders.

"After serving more than 40 years in prison, the parole board is recommending that Brown approve Davis" parole. The governor has 30 days to make a decision [which will be up at the end of February]. His options are to affirm, decline, modify or decline to review, which would allow the parole to take effect, an official said."

"These people [Manson Family members] are still communicating and bonded together," Debra said. "They are all still connected to Charlie. It will be business as usual with each individual that is released."

Debra said that she sits approximately six feet from the Manson Family inmates each time they come up for parole.

"Their personas have not changed," she said. "They still show complete sociopathic tendencies. "

"Those tapes could change the climate [regarding parole]," she concluded.

Not first time tapes have surfaced

This isn"t the first time the knowledge of the Watson tapes have been brought to the attention of authorities.

Besides the use of the tapes for Watson"s aforementioned book and Debra"s alert to the authorities last year, Dostie talked about and quoted from the transcript from O"Neill"s interview with Boyd where the tapes are thoroughly discussed, during a presentation to the Inyo Sheriff"s Department and the Death Valley National Park Service in 2011. Dostie made the presentation in an effort to be allowed to dig deeper at the Barker Ranch.

Dostie also contacted Senator Dianne Feinstein"s office about his concerns of bodies buried at the Barker Ranch. Feinstein responded by sending him a letter her office had received from Death Valley National Park following his presentation. In the letter, the Park, under the direction of then-Superintendent Sarah Craighead, stated that after listening to Dostie"s presentation and reviewing additional materials he provided they "found no compelling reasons to re-open the investigation."

The Park Service was assigned to investigate Craighead, who has since been relocated to serve as Superintendent of Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Other than that, nothing else has been done.

"Assigning the Park Service to investigate would be like assigning Frank Nitti to investigate Al Capone," Dostie said.

Buster's been busy

After five years Dostie still believes there are bodies at the Barker Ranch. Why? He and Buster have been traveling the world for the last five years collecting data to prove it.

"We"ve gone around the world and have soil samples from human decomposition sites [that Buster has alerted on]," Dostie said. One of these sites is the mass grave containing more than 40 Marines on Tarawa, which The Sheet wrote about in May 2011 (Casualties of War).

Other sites include soil taken from directly below the remains of murder victims Lynsie Ekelund and Kathryn Barrett.

Dostie also has soil samples from Barker Ranch. All soil analysis was done with a Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer, according to Dostie. When put into a chart and compared side by side, the chemistry in the soil of the known gravesites is the same as the chemistry of the soil taken from Barker Ranch.

"Scientifically there is no other explanation than multiple human burials at Barker Ranch," Dostie said. "They didn"t dig deep enough."

World Expert in Human Decomposition Says There Are Bodies At The Barker Ranch

Thanks to Paul Dostie for alerting us to this video.

Followup from Sgt. Dostie

There are some very good comments on the Barker Ranch posting.

To answer one question, Film Crews are required to purchase a permit to film in a National Park. Of course when they applied for a permit to film at the Barker Ranch, the alarms went off and they sent two babysitters. I don't know if this would be the case if they were filming the wild flower bloom in April of doing a special on the lizards of Death Valley!

I would also like to mention that the film crew was very professional and the Director, Doug was very well prepared with some very good questions.

For those who are wondering, I did not accept payment or expenses for telling this story. I travel there on my own time at my own expense just like I did for the Eviliz Tour. All we are asking is that the Park Service and the Sheriff leave their egos by the door and bring these kids home that were at the wrong place at the wrong time in 1968 and 1969. This is a value that we hold to as Americans wether it is a murder victim here in the US or a service member who gave their life for their country overseas. It is simply the right thing to do. The only thing worse than having a loved one murdered is having a loved one go missing and not knowing what happened to them.

The science in this case is indisputable. The Gas Chromatograph / Mass Spectrometer analysis of soil samples on the sites at the Barker Ranch, match those of human burial sites around the world that we have collected.

I have attached a Google Earth GIS overlay of the sites as well as the exact GPS coordinates. All this data is accurate to within 18 to 24 inches. Feel free to post this data in case anyone would like to visit the area and stand on the exact spots.

I would [also] like to respond to Bobot420's very well researched comment. Those are indeed the rules. However, the NPS, specifically the Superintendent, can permit anything she wants, to a movie company as long as it does not create too much disturbance to the environment. If the film company was filming a remake of "Lassie" and little Timmy was lost in the sand dunes, and they wanted to film Lassie running on top of the sand dunes looking for Timmy, that would be permitted with no problem as it would show the beauty of the park. The four paws of Lassie would cause no more disturbance to the sand dunes than the 175 - 200 pound adult actors acting as searchers in the movie.

The same would apply to filming Buster alert on the sites at the Barker Ranch. He would simply sniff and passively lay down on top of the sites. When History Channel called the park for the filming permit, they were told from the outset that they would not allow Buster to work the sites before they even asked! He would be held to the letter of the law and in fact limited to established roads only as part of the permit.

I did interview a retired mid level manager from NPS Death Valley who worked for Superintendent Sarah Craighead. It is their opinion that Sarah does not want the public to know that bad things can happen in her National Park. The victims, and the families who are missing them, do not enter into Superintendent Craighead's decision making process. It is heartless but this is how she thinks. It is all about her and moving up the promotional ladder by not having any drama in her National Park.

In other words, there is nothing to see here, remain calm, all is well, move along now.

I know that this seems almost unbelievable that a high ranking Park Service Supervisor could mis-represent the truth like this, but it appears to be a practice that is condoned at the highest levels of the Park Service as evidenced by this:

http://oysterzone.wordpress.com/

http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=e4444ee8-5056-8059-76c1-1da50f5790cd

As you can see, no matter what the facts and the science are, they will simply mis-represent the facts or make up their own facts. No one in the Drakes Bay case was fired.

Filing a complaint on Superintendent Craighead with her boss at Western Regional Headquarters in Oakland, would have the same result as filing a complaint on Frank (The Enforcer) Nitti with his supervisor, Al Capone.

-----------------------------------------------


DOG ALERT COORDINATES

Buster 1  X=  7128833  Y=  1837878  Z=     3288
Buster 2  X=  7128806  Y=  1838005  Z=     3313
Buster 3  X=  7128818  Y=  1838070  Z=     3321
Buster 4  X=  7128222  Y=  1837539  Z=     3251
Ness 1    X=  7128287  Y=  1838043  Z=     3289

Points located using a Trimble ProXR beacon-corrected code-phase receiver.

(Coordinates are California State Plane NAD83 Zone 4, feet)

Sgt. Dostie, Death Valley National Park and the Freedom of Information Act

Hi Guys,

I was up at the Barker Ranch today with a crew filming for the History Channel. It was 114 degrees out!

The Park Service had an armed ranger and the administrative assistant to the superintendent listening to every word I said. I wish I had taken a picture! They have a new rule written especially for me. No dog is allowed off of an established road. They let me walk from the parking area in 25 feet the front gate and we were turned around because we were off the road and in the front yard! That's it! What do you think they are afraid of? It was very interesting that the Park Superintendent sent her Administrative assistant to watch over us. Needless to say the last thing they wanted on film was Buster alerting on all the sites. I have never heard of a dog rule like this in a National Park. We could walk around the front yard and to the sites but Buster was not allowed to.

The Administrative Assistant is also the Death Valley National Park FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) officer. I filed a complaint on the Superintendent, Sarah Craighead, over a year and a half ago, that she is ignoring and covering up that there are several murder victims buried in the park she manages. There was a lot of interoffice emails and emails between the chief ranger and the sheriff. I have filed several FOIA requests and I have close to 3,000 pages of Emails and other documents. The administrative assistant to the Superintendent, Cheryl Chipman, redacted everything that I want! You can imagine how fair that is when I filed a complaint against her boss who writes her evaluations and decides on promotions.

I have appealed the redactions to the park service who rules on the park service. Guess how that turned out? After much research and talking to experts, I found out FOIA is a big joke. The only way you get what you want is to go to federal court and sue them. The vast majority of the time, the judge will rule in your favor. I simply cannot afford to hire an lawyer to put the case on in federal court. I am looking for a smart law student to put the case on with me, pro bono. The case would be in Sacramento.

I offered Cheryl Chipman two cold bottles of water to tell me what she redacted. She laughed and thought that was pretty funny. They got me good. But in reality, they are doing a great dis-service to the families of the missing. They very much enjoy exercising their power and showing who is in charge.

When I was there with you guys, if you posted pictures of Buster on the sites, I bet I would have been charged since they would have the evidence.

Also, myself and two Ph.D's, a Forensic Anthropologist and a former high ranking Archeologist who worked for the US Forest Service, now retired, applied for a permit from the Park Service to conduct scientific forensic excavations of the two burial sites on Park Service land. Park Superintendent Sarah Craighead refused to grant us a permit.

On a side note, they fixed Golar Wash so you can drive right up now. You can't even tell where the waterfall was located. We think it was the Myers family who fixed the road, not sure though. That part of the road is on BLM land.

Paul

The Smell of Death at Barker Ranch

 

Photo courtesy Robert Hendrickson

Hendrickson writes:

Compounding this lack of concern for potential victims was my discovery of a hand written "help" note left behind by a possible hostage. After our trip, with members of the Family to their Death Valley hideout, Craig and I alone, later made another trip to Barker's, but this time with a dune buggy up the more difficult Golar Wash canyon. The other difference was, this time, the scorching desert heat was fast approaching. Also, this time we could do some investigating on our own, without the watchful eyes of the Manson Family. Strange as it seems now, there are only two things I remember about the abandoned Ranch from that trip.

After entering an old out building, (can be seen as Gypsy points it out in the new Manson Gang film) I found a piece of paper with handwriting on it. I took it back outside and read it. It was a note, apparently written by a daughter in hopes that it may find its way home to her mother. Somewhat desperate in its tone, I realized that the game of making a movie about the Manson Gang, wasn't a game anymore. Many thoughts were now crossing my mind, as Craig and I had a bite to eat. Also exhausted, after lunch we decided to take a nap on the ranch house front porch.

It must have been a hour or so later, when we awoke to the most God awful smell that anyone could possibly have imagined. The next thing we realized, was that it must have been at least 120 degrees, and we were in the shade. I'm sure that the troubling note found earlier had played some tricks on my mind, but without any question, we understood that the horrible smell could only be coming from a dead body. Craig quickly fired up the dune buggy and I, almost in a panic mode, returned the note to its original resting place. With breakneck speed two young filmmakers got the Hell out of there.

One of the possible grave sites sites is about 50 feet away from where Hendickson was sitting on the front porch when he smelled it.  Since it was soon after the arrests there would still be a lot of soft tissue decomposition going on (very smelly) and in that sandy soil, it would migrate up very easily.  According to one of our sources who went to the Barker Ranch in 1969, there is about two feet of alluvial deposition on that spot since 1969. If there is a serious dig it must be much deeper than the 3-4 feet that was previously allowed.

Funny Shit From The Tour

Buster having his way with Apollo

 

Sign in the Ballarat Store men's room 

Sign in ladies room at the restaurant in Panamint Springs

 

Sign-in book in the bunk house at Barker's

 

Message on wall in the bunk house at Barker's